International Dot Day : Get Inspired!

I signed our school up to participate in International Dot Day 2014!  Last years celebration was amazing. After reading Peter H. Reynolds story about a girl name Vashti who thinks she can't draw.  Her teacher inspires her to "Make a Mark and See Where it Takes You."  The book is all about creativity, inspiration, taking risks, believing in yourself and learning.  All the things we want our students to do! 

So far 4 other Elementaries in BISD have signed up to participate as well so the intradistrict collaboration can start! We will Make our Mark and See Where it Takes Us!

Tools to Connect, Collaborate, and Create PD

Many things have changed for me with the start of this school year.  As the Lead Media Specialist for my district I feel a great responsibility to my fellow Library Media Specialists to make our professional development meaningful, powerful and relevant. This week was the first of those days for the 2014-2015 school year; and this week has been amazing.  I had the privilege to host Shannon McClintock Miller in our District. We were fortunate to have 2 days with Shannon. They were jam packed with information, collaboration, and creation.
The first day our colleagues from Angleton, Columbia/Brazoria, Danbury and Sweeny joined us for Tools to Connect, Collaborate and Create.  The tools and the ideas flowed. One of my favorite tools that was shared was Padlet . I plan on using it at my elementary school by allowing the students to have a voice and share what's on their mind about all kinds of topics.  I believe that even the littlest learners in our schools have great things to say.  Padlet will help give them that opportunity!

Hello Again

I am blogging again.  I have been gone for 3 years...... I can't believe that, but I have. Alot has happened in the last 3 years. My oldest daughter has graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in Hotel Restaurant Management and is now working at Walt Disney World. My youngest daughter has graduated from high school and is now a Junior at Texas A&M University, so I am now an Emptynester! After much soul searching, reading, learning, and expanding what I want, I am ready to start again.

So much has changed in the library world and education.  Change is happening at lightning speed. Mobile technology is growing, adding new users, devices, and apps daily. This chart comes from The Flurry Blog

As you can see our students, parents, and faculty are connected all the time. They demand instant access and it is up to us to help them fulfill this need.  

We as Media Specialists must adapt and change to ensure that the we are relevant, necessary, and connected. We must give our patrons the tools and experiences that will make them productive members of this ever changing world. 

I have embraced Twitter - Michelle@BrannenLibrary and have connected with new and inspiring people who have made me question my own vision and goals for my friends at the Brannen Library. I am still learning and #hashtags confuse me. But I am not afraid to ask questions and learn by trial and error, so be patient and point out my mistakes!  I appreciate all your comments and suggestions.  

So I am back! Ready to learn and grow and change my perspective to ensure that the friends who rely on me have a guide who is willing to learn, adapt and change with them. 

Wish me luck!!!!

You Tube in the library

I found some You Tube videos to use in the library next year.

Arthur and the Library Card


D.W.'s Library Card


Arthur's Lost Library Book Part 1


Arthur's Lost Library Book Part 2

11.5 More Things - Thing 11.5

This has been another exciting technology journey for me. I have enjoyed learning about all the other "things" out there. My favorite by far had to have been the Glog. I am going to use that with my 4th graders next year. I can not wait to share this with the teachers. They are going to be amazed. What a great way for them to do their Texas Region reports.
Through this program and the 23 Things program I have learned so much. I am even facilitating an online technology discovery program within my own district. I will now have to continue to grow so that I can provide for the folks in my district as well as my own campus.
The only part of this journey that was surprising was Second Life. I was excited to try it and then once there I did not like it at all. I felt very uncomfortable using it. Not to mention it crashed my computer several times. I uninstalled that program and will probably never use it again.
I appreciate this program being opened to people from other districts. Your time and talents are to be applauded.

11.5 More Things - Thing 11

Digital Citizenship is an important part of the curriculum for all students. At my school we start with Internet safety at the Kindergarten. I have found many websites with game like activities that teach students about how to be safe, smart digital citizens online. On our intranet, we have different pages for each grade, and the first lessons that each grade does in the beginning of the school year is on Internet safety and digital citizenship. Each grade has a different lesson so that the lessons are not duplicated, and each lesson builds upon the things learned previously. As the students move through the lessons, they start to learn more about cyber safety, personal protection, and authenticity of information. By the time they leave us in 4th grade they have had 5 years of lessons on digital citizenship. At the end of each school year in May, the teachers spend a week with lessons that the district has developed on digital citizenship. I feel that it is important for the students to be reminded before the long days of summer, what their rights and responsibilities are for online use.
During the school year, in the library, I contiune with the lessons in the computer lab by teaching the children about checking resources, looking at the ends of URL's to determine where the sites are from and ways to evaluate what they are reading online.
It takes constant attention from, teachers, parents and peers to help our students become good digital citizens.

11.5 More Things - Thing 10

Virtual Worlds! - Wow this was an interesting experience. I created my avatar and entered Second World no problem, however there was this guy who would not leave me alone. I was going through the first 6 learning instructions, to learn how to walk, sit, fly, transport, etc. He kept following me and trying to have a conversation, I kept nicely telling him to go away, but to no avail. He even followed me when I transported to a clothing store - Creepy! I was really glad when Second life crashed and my whole computer restarted to be honest. As neat as the experience was, it was very uncomfortable having that guy bothering you.
I do not think I would use this in any way with my elementary students. I would not even expose them to just watching, because of what just happened. It would be a great way to teach bullying, but not at an elementary level.

11.5 More Things - Thing 9

Prior to this weeks activities I had never heard about Slideshare. I had heard about Power Point sharing through Google docs. This does seem to be a better way to handle collaboration of student's work. It seems to be more efficient. I can see the potential that tools like this one have. Before you would take the kids to the lab and everyone would open Power point, create their slide and then you would copy and paste each presentation onto a file and then merge the presentations. This tool allows the students to all work on the same presentation at the same time. It also gives a much neater way to present the iformation. Since it can be uploaded to blogs or webpages, it allows the students to share their work at home with their parents. Also, since these programs are web based students can work on projects outside the school day.
I belive that these tools will greatly enhance the productivity of the students.

11.5 More Things - Thing 8

I love being able to do a screencast! This willl be so time saving in the future. Atomic Learning look out!
I created a short video on how to configure clip art using Screencast-o-matic. It was easy to use and created a good quality video in a short amount of time. I always have people call me and tell me that they want to include photos or clip art in the documents or presentations but get frustrated because they can not manipulate the image.
Unfortunately I can not get the video to load into Blogger. I saved it as a MP4 movie and I have uploaded videos in the past, however...........
Blogger shows that the video is uploading, it goes through the whole process, shows the black box for the video and then when you go to play it it says error, video can not be played check back later. I am very, very, very, very frustrated!
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

11.5 More Things - Thing 7

I have looked at all the video sites. Hulu will be great when you are needing a clip from a tv show or movie.
Blinkx has some wonderful videos that would be great to use to collaborate with teachers in the classroom, since it is a video search engine all the videos are in one place so you are not having to search multiple sites for the same topic.
The PBS and National archives sites had some great video to share for history and science topics.
I love the totlol site. I teache in a PreK-4 school and I am always looking for new things to use with Pre-K. The videos on this site fit that bill! I also teach a year long unit on Nursery Rhymes to Kinder so the videos here that have the rhymes being read are great. I plan on setting up stations next year when we do the rhyme and having the students watch them being read and doing a craft activity with the kids for each rhyme so these will tie in great.
http://www.totlol.com/collection_videos?c=2401 this is the link to the collection of videos. You have to go to You Tube to get the embed codes.


I found this video on the Frog Prince. Our 3rd grade teachers do a unit on Fairy tales so I plan on using this in the library and comparing this version to the one they read in class.
Blip TV - Frog Prince

11.5 More Things - Thing 6

iPod apps! Love them! I have had an iPhone for years now. My college age daughter just upgraded to the iPHone4, and my high school daughter has an iPhone 3GS. We almost have my husband convinced to trade his phone in and get an iPhone.
There are so many educational, organizational and entertainment apps out there that there is no reason not to use them in schools. Most students have iPhones and those that don't have an iPod touch which does everything an iPbone does except being used as a phone. But their apps out there that allow the iPod Touch to text and make calls. I think wifi is needed though.
I use both Stanza and Kindle for reading books. I love reading a "real" book and my iPhone will never take their place, however when I am waiting in a doctor's office, in line or in traffic, I love the fact that I have 10-20 books available to read. College students use so many online text books, why not put textbooks on line? It could decrease the amount of money in lost book charges.
The use of Safari to go online gives you access to dictionary.com, and the online databases. I know my daughters both use the flash card app, and study stack to help prepare for tests and other class activities. The translator is used in their foreign language classes.
I use apps for meal planning, grocery lists, and Christmas planning. As well as checking email, facebook and texts. It keeps my calendar, to do list and of course the game apps.

With so many uses I see no reason not to have students use it in schools and libraries. It would be nice for them to be able to use them during lectures so the back channeling could happen. A class set would replace the need for purchasing dictionaries or encyclopedias since they can acces them on line.
Most have video capability so they could create podcasts and video casts that could then be uploaded to itunes and shared with parents or other classmates.

Again it comes down to the fact that even if you had the money to purchase these the sites are blocked and the district is locked down for wifi as well as access to many sites.
I am all for using iPods or iPhones in school.

11.5 More Things - Thing 5

I am relatively new to Facebook, but I have embraced it! My daughters call me a "Facebook Creeper" I do enjoy reading everyone's posts and I do spend time keeping up with my daughter's friends by reading their status. It truly gives you an insight to what people find interesting. I do not post my own status very often. I really don't feel like people really want to know what I am doing every second of the day.
I signed up for Twitter tonight and it is the social app that I understand the least. I mean why would I want to know that my friend is eating popcorn or some of the more mundane things I have seen tweeted.
This instant and constant need to inform people of their most insignifigant details is where our teenagers are however. Some of my daughter's friends post a status change on Facebook every hour, and then all their friends comment. It seems that all these teenagers do is post or check their Facebook.
It would make sense to use this as a tool to reach our students. This is where their time and energy is spent, so why not set up class accounts, teacher accounts and let them use it as a way to remind students of assignments, interact with them about their opinions about assignments, or allow them to respond to class issues.
It is also a great way to keep parents involved and up to date.
I see more of a benefit to use Facebook than twitter.
The thought of using back-channeling is interesting. I feel that it could add to inservices and presentations. It would be an interesting arguement to try and get the district to allow the students to use their texting to be able to interact. As it stands right now they can not even have phones out.
I understand the possible problems that could arise, but I do think the benefits will out weigh the risks.

11.5 More Things - Thing 4

This post is about uploading a video to You Tube or Teacher Tube.
I am working on a video and will come back to this post.

Okay! I am extremly frustrated!!! I guess when Second Life crashed my computer, it also corrupted my video I had made. I was having problems getting it uploaded to You Tube as it kept timing out when I was trying to upload, but I thought that was an issue with Comcast, however after having been on the phone with their technical people today and then having a friend who is a techie come and look, I am just out of luck. The video is gone. I can't wait to look tomorrow and see what else I am now missing or how many files are corrupt. This is the part of technology that I do not like. It is tempermental!
I know how to create videos and I know how to up load them to You Tube. It will be hard to use them from You Tube next year if our district does not unblock the site.
UGHHHH!

11.5 More Things - Thing 3

I love Skype! I use it currently to "talk" to my nephew who lives in Houston. Aunt Shell reads him stories and he shows me the games he is playing on Wii. There are so many uses for Skype! I can see it being used across the district or across the world. My only problem will be selling it to the people in the district. There is always the possibility that there will be a bandwidth problem.
I agree with the Learning Librarian that Skype is "an excellent resource for broadening their minds and teaching them about life in other countries." I know the world geography class at the high school does a project on another country it would be a wonderful experience if they could interact through Skype with students in that country.
Skype would also be a great advantage to meetings that currently take place after school hours. If they district could utilize this then two sets of teachers at two campuses could meet during conference periods instead of outside hours.

11.5 More Things - Thing 2

I have used the Wordle tool many times with students. Last year in the library we had the students create a Wordle about their favorite Bluebonnet Nominee. They had to include the title, author, setting, characters, and at least 10 words that described the book and how it made them feel. We were going to post them on my blog, but the district blocked Blogspot, so none of the pictures would appear. Instead we printed them and posted them on the wall outside the library. One of the Wordles is on this blog.


Since I had experience with Wordle, I chose to create a Word Sift. I used the information included in a Technology inservice Blog that I am conducting this summer for my district.





I love this tool. I think it has so many uses in the classroom. I included it as a tool for my participants as well. I plan on sharing it especially with the 4th grade teachers who teach writing. I love the word web that is included with each Word Sift that is created. It is a visual way for students to choose a better word in their writing. The idea that you can put in text and then highlight the interdisciplinary words would help students to see that words are not only for spelling.

I had a great time making my Glog. I plan on using it with my 4th graders for their Bluebonnet projects. I want them to choose one of the books on the 2010 list and create a Glog about that book. I linked each of the pictures to the Mackin Book Talk site.



I have used Animoto before and like using it to make book trailers. I chose to create a Voki for this class. I even put one of our school mascot - a horse- to put on our intranet site welcoming the kids to the computer lab.

I was not that impressed with Bookr. I could not find any way to crop the pictures or edit the font or text. The pictures that you could get from Flickr were not easy to find and seemed rather random. I could not find a tutorial to use or any kind of help.

11.5 More Things - Thing 1

The video was inspiring. The student learned how to use all resources available to him. He is able to distinguish between factual information and opinion, make informed decisions and communicate with others.
These are some of the key skills that librarians try to impart to all their patrons. The theory of connectivism is a great one to employ in your libraries. We are not the giver of knowledge we are the finders of knowledge and it is our job to help even the youngest learners figure out how to find things.
21st century learners are able to find, sift through and use information in astounding ways. We have to be there to be the cheerleaders, the coaches and the spectators in their journeys.

Bess Brannen Elementary's Bronco Lunch Bunch




The Bronco Lunch Bunch is Bess Brannen's Book Club. The first semester is open to 3rd and 4th grade students only. We have a set list of books that students may read and then they join us in the library for lunch and book discussion. Check out the Bess Brannen Library website for the full list of books.

The first Lunch Bunch was over the book Where I Live by Eileen Spinelli. We had 56 3rd graders and 27 4th graders who joined us for lunch over 2 days.

The video above is just the 3rd graders.

The next book is Surprises According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney, read it by October 30 and join us for lunch.

Bluebonnet Projects - Wordles

Jason D. created this wordle for The Golly-Whopper Games

Trading Cards

Trading Cards
http://bighugelabs.com/deck.php

You will use the pictures I have saved on the desktop of the school laptops to create the practice trading card.

Bluebonnet Chapter Book Preview

Well the first week of library classes has been great. The third and fourth graders have been introduced to the Texas Bluebonnet Picture books nominees with the photo story in the previous post and now as promised is the preview video of the Texas Bluebonnett Award Chapter book nominees.
Bess Brannen's cutoff is Friday, January 22, 2010 at 3:30 p.m. Our voting and party will be on Friday, January 29, 2010.
To vote all 3rd and 4th graders need to read 5 of the books off the list.
To come to the party, 4th graders need to read 6 of the books and both 3rd and 4th graders need to complete a poster or another special project with their favorite book.